Hackers hit Blizzard game network 

Hackers struck anew this week, stealing the data of users of the Battle.net game network run by game publisher Blizzard Entertainment.

 

Blizzard president and co-founder Mike Morhaime said their security team discovered an unauthorized and illegal access into the firm's internal network.

 

"Some data was illegally accessed, including a list of email addresses for global Battle.net users, outside of China. For players on North American servers (which generally includes players from North America, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia) the answer to the personal security question, and information relating to Mobile and Dial-In Authenticators were also accessed," he said.

 

However, he said this information alone is not enough for anyone to gain access to Battle.net accounts.

 

Also, he said there is no evidence at this time that the hackers compromised financial information such as credit cards, billing addresses, or real names.

 

"Our investigation is ongoing, but so far nothing suggests that these pieces of information have been accessed," he said.

 

For now, he said Blizzard is working with law enforcement and security experts to investigate what happened.

 

* passwords

 

Morhaime also said cryptographically scrambled versions of Battle.net passwords and not the actual passwords for players on North American servers were taken.

 

He said Blizzard uses Secure Remote Password protocol (SRP) to protect these passwords, which is designed to make it extremely difficult to extract the actual password.

 

This also means each password would have to be deciphered individually, he said.

 

"As a precaution, however, we recommend that players on North American servers change their password," he said.

 

In the coming days, he said players on North American servers will be prompted to change their secret questions and answers through an automated process.

 

Blizzard will also prompt mobile authenticator users to update their authenticator software.

 

"As a reminder, phishing emails will ask you for password or login information. Blizzard Entertainment emails will never ask for your password. We deeply regret the inconvenience to all of you and understand you may have questions," he said.

 

"We take the security of your personal information very seriously, and we are truly sorry that this has happened," he added. — TJD, GMA News